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Nakobe Dean NFL Draft Profile
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Nakobe Dean Scouting ReportDean has impressive football instincts as a run-stopping linebacker. He has a remarkable knack for diagnosing the play, working through traffic, locating the ball, and making a play. The Georgia product can scrape well along the formation to find the ball carrier and end the play. Nakobe does his best work against the run. He regularly uses his play speed to come downhill with force to impact the run game. Dean demonstrates solid pursuit angles when chasing his man downfield. He has also proven to be a threat as a pass rusher off the edge. In pass coverage, his athletic ability allows him to stay relatively sticky in man schemes. It allows him to make up ground quickly and make a play to limit yardage. |
Areas for ImprovementStanding at 6'0", weighing in at 225 pounds, Nakobe won’t be the tallest or heaviest linebacker in the 2022 NFL Draft. He doesn’t appear to have the frame to add much more muscle mass, either. Thus, this is unlikely an area where he can improve. He often struggles to impact the game when blitzing inside. There were too many examples of him being stonewalled by offensive linemen when attempting to get to the backfield from the interior. Nakobe Dean has demonstrated excellent football instincts as a run defender, his reading of the passing game requires some improvement. For instance, he can be drawn in by play fakes. And despite exhibiting stellar play speed, he doesn’t possess the elite change of direction ability to recover from a misread play. |
Nakobe Dean Career at GeorgiaWith a reputation for being an insane high school athlete, it didn’t appear like Dean needed too much athletic refinement. However, inside linebacker isn’t often a position where a true freshman can come in and make an immediate and dominant impact. Despite this, Dean played in 14 games during the 2019 season. In his debut against Murray State, he contributed his first tackle for loss, while just three games later, he had a standout game against Kentucky. The young linebacker led his more experienced teammates with 6 tackles in the win over the Wildcats. Additionally, he secured his first career forced fumble, flexing his ability to be disruptive. Dean earned a share of the team’s Defensive Newcomer of the Year Award as a true freshman after registering 25 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1 forced fumble. He also added pass breakups against Georgia Tech and LSU to flash some moxie in pass coverage. |
Nakobe Dean NFL Draft Player ProfileAlthough he’d been solid in 2019, there was an expectation from Georgia fans that the Mississippi native would take a step up as a sophomore. Dean did not disappoint. Making 10 starts and playing 76% of the team’s defensive snaps, he led the team with 71 tackles and 13 quarterback pressures. A tackling machine in high school, Dean replicated that ability with a three-game stretch where he registered double-digit tackle numbers. Amid that stretch, he set a new career-high of 15 tackles against Florida. In the game preceding that span, he secured his first career sack against Alabama. Two years after being named the High School Butkus Award winner, his sophomore performances saw him named a semifinalist for the college equivalent. With Monty Rice departed to the NFL Draft, Dean will be expected to take a step up this season. Although the Georgia linebacker missed spring practice following surgery to repair a torn labrum, he should be fully fit for the start of his junior campaign. If he leads the team in tackles again this fall and can turn some of his pressures into production, Dean could elevate his 2022 NFL Draft stock. |
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